The Other Shoe
by SansaandWinterfell
Summary: If anyone had told Sansa Stark that she would be married to Jon Snow, expecting a child with him at the age of nineteen she would have laughed at them. Not because Jon was a bad person; not because she was young; simply because Sansa Stark seemed to be the anthesis of a happy ending. Hogwarts AU


Prompted by the lovely Crossing Winter to write this over on my tumblr. I don't know why I thought this would just be delightful and carefree. Like did I forget my OTP Jily doesn't survive?

_Take Ned and go, it's him! I'll hold him off!_

If anyone had told Sansa Stark that she would be married to Jon Snow, expecting a child with him at the age of nineteen she would have laughed at them. Not because Jon was a bad person, for he had slowly come out of his shell in the past seven years; not because she was young, her parents were married right out of Hogwarts; simply because Sansa Stark seemed to be the anthesis of a happy ending.

She had dated Joffrey Baratheon early in school, he was everything a girl could want. When her family was killed she remained at the Red Keep, her father's best friend would look after her, even though she had broken up with his son years before. Until he couldn't, when Robert died she was trapped during the summer holidays.

She could have started falling in love with Jon then, she supposed as she ran a hand through his dark curls. They preferred to spend the holidays at school after the death of her family. Jon had been staying with them since Robb met him; he was an orphan with no knowledge of his parentage and that didn't sit well with Robb.

She didn't mind that she only got one gift, Jon always apologized for that. She knew he was trying to get himself settled without the help of the gold left to him by her parents. Jon didn't mind hard work and she admired that. Sometimes they would take one of the passageways to Hogsmede under Robb's invisibility cloak. Guilt usually overcame one of them when they did that, so it wasn't often.

She still had Jeyne who would fuss with her hair in the dorms, and walk with her to the hospital wing when her nerves got the worst of her. Perhaps Jeyne noticed it first, she asked Sansa to _please, please, please come with us, I'm so nervous_ before her first date with Theon. When they walked into the Three Broomsticks and Jon was sitting alongside Theon she didn't mind. Theon probably wanted Jon there to keep him in check, that's all. It was only when Jeyne and Theon started snogging that she felt a bit set up. When Jon met her eyes and gestured to the door she nodded, and when he took her hand she couldn't find it in herself to mind. She didn't think much of it, she held Jeyne's hand all the time.

Everything was still so new when they joined the fighting. Aerys Targaryen, the Dark Lord, the Mad Targaryen, was leading a hellbent charge against those he deemed unworthy. The Starks had been at the top of his list, Sansa only just managed to escape.

It was why she started training as a healer, it was why she joined the Order of the Phoenix; she had to see justice. It all happened quickly after that. She had been sent on a mission, her first, with Jon. It was meant to be non-combative, strictly gathering information, until it wasn't. Aerys had appeared, Sansa's wand arm started to tremble, even though Jon had placed his hand around her wrist he had gone cold.

_Homenum revelio_, they'd never done that before. "Get out of here," Jon whispered gruffly.

"I'm not leaving you here," and when the first hex flew toward them she cast a shield. Her heart was racing, and although not every hex landed on target she was keeping additional wands off Jon, who Aerys had taken on himself. Mad he may have been but his talent was unmistakable, Jon had to sever a chain to divert his attention long enough for Sansa to side-along apparate him away.

It was the adrenaline that made her kiss him, or maybe he kissed her. Either way she was sure it was a one time thing, Jon had been her brothers best friend she would always be a child in his eyes. He invited her to the Leaky Cauldron as a medi-witch inspected them. "Theon, Sam, and Ramsay will be there too."

It almost felt right, sitting with her brother's oldest friends, throwing back shots of firewiskey, and getting embarrassed by their bawdy jokes. She wondered if they noticed that they left a fifth chair open at the table. Jon took her hand under the table, when she met his eyes she gave a squeeze to his unasked question. _Is this ok?_

She was barely eighteen when he asked her to marry him, but he was more surprised to hear her say yes. She could die tomorrow, like her mother, her father, her brothers, and her sister; she would rather be with someone who knew her. The girls she was taking classes with would ask her about him; they would look at his long, solemn face and her bright blue eyes and wonder what she saw in him. Surely she should be with someone more deserving. Sometimes she saw the question, the disbelief in him as well. Robb was always the most handsome, Theon more outgoing, Sam more studious, and Ramsay more proud; she would tell him each day how happy he made her, how safe she felt, each day he grew more handsome in her eyes.

Their wedding was cut short by another attack. Aerys had shown up and meant to end the Stark line that night. Jon told her to leave, that he would keep her safe. She had made an unbreakable vow, she would not leave him, he promised to keep her safe. She would be damned if she couldn't do the same. They were exhausting themselves, with the other members of the Order in attendance fighting their own battles she knew she was lucky to have a partner fighting. Professor Baratheon had shown up, they say he was the only one Aerys feared. It turned out to be true, for the moment, for Aerys and his deatheaters fled.

The baby was conceived after the third attack in a flurry of relief, adrenaline, and lust. Sam had come with her to St. Mungo's to have it confirmed, Jon was at training and she didn't want to get his hopes up. He'd only had her family for a few years, and other orphans before that. She longed to give him a true family of his own.

Sansa stopped waiting for the other shoe to fall when he lifted her and spun her around, pressing kisses across her face. As she expanded he had taken to talking to her belly. Theon had come around to help her set up the nursery when Jon couldn't, chatting merrily about the things he was going to teach the baby, "like how to talk to girls, Merlin knows how Jon managed to go on a date with you let alone marry you."

Sansa laughed, yes her Jon was shy. "He's liked you since Robb brought him home!" Theon said. She rolled her eyes, Theon was always exagerating. "No, at first we thought Robb would get mad at him. When we brought it up Robb wanted you two together more than anyone else!"

Jon had been the one to suggest Ned, after her father, if the baby was a boy; which she insisted it was. She wanted their baby to look like Jon, so Ramsay wouldn't try to tell him the baby wasn't his, which he would. She wanted the baby to look like Jon because she had a family who looked like her, and he deserved the same. She wanted their first baby to be a boy so Jon could teach him how to be brave and respectful, so her children could have an older brother like she did. She was so happy she forgot to wait for the shoe to drop.

When Professor Baratheon, Stannis now, called them to the school she was six months along. Mance Rayder and his wife Dalla were sitting in the headmaster's office as well, Sansa smiled at them Mance and Jon were good friends from the Auror Academy. "Melissandre saw something in her fire gazing the night before last," Stannis began. Sansa's grip on Jon's hand grew tighter the longer Stannis spoke. "Aerys will be searching for a baby born at the end of July, a child by those who have thrice defied him."

_Our baby is due in August_ Sansa told herself. _Our baby is due in the middle of August,_ all of Catelyn Stark's children had been born later than expected. It was only a precaution to warn her and Jon. Still for how sure she was she started to cry at the thought of losing her child, or for Dalla to lose the one that grew inside her. Stannis looked alarm at her wails, and she wished she could have held herself together the way Dalla did, the way her mother would have.

"No one will hurt our son," Jon swore to her as they lay awake in their bed. Her back was to him, for there were few positions her expanded belly allowed. In the years she had known Jon he never broke a promise. They told Theon, Sam, and Ramsay who immediately launched into a plan to keep the baby safe.

She knew the boys were smart, but she'd only seen Sam crack open a book. Watching Theon leaf through a book about defensive charms brought her to tears again, which horrified him, even though he'd seen it happen plenty of times before. Sam continued to try to keep her comfortable, attend appointments with her, and listen to her talk about her plans for the baby. Even Ramsay, who'd been distant was helping in his own way by teaching her hexes to use, just in case.

She spent the month of July as a bundle of nerves, what if the baby came? He would be early, would that be ok? Sam would sit outside with her and they would dip their feet in a muggle swimming pool and drink ice cold pumpkin juice. Sam never eyed her skeptically when she ate an additional lemon cake the way their other friends did. His constant company during the day combined with Jon's in the evening slowly had her forgetting her worries. Her baby would come at the end of August, later than he was supposed to.

When she felt the pain of a contraction on the last day of the month she was sure it was nothing, women go into false labor, there were plenty of things written about it. She said the same to Jon even when he insisted on getting to St. Mungo's. "Why would I go, I'm not in labor?" she asked him through clenched teeth. She wouldn't back down, and he tittered nervously around her. She would have found it endearing if it wasn't drawing so much attention to how much pain she was in.

He called the boys in as reinforcements, which hadn't worked as well as he hoped. Theon switched between trying to comfort her to getting frustrated when she wouldn't listen. Sam, who had seen her nearly every day, who knew all of her fears for this baby, seemed to side with her, quoting articles he'd read verbatim at Jon. Surprisingly it was Ramsay who convinced her to go. "If the baby comes now it comes now, if it doesn't it doesn't, and if any man tries to hurt it I will flay him alive." It could have been the seriousness of his tone, or the gravity of the promise but she nodded her head and let Jon apparate her to the hospital.

Arguably her tears were happy ones, because her baby boy was born quickly, without complications, and healthy. She didn't start sobbing in fear until she looked at the clock. Jon's hand tightened around hers and she wondered why he wasn't afraid. She asked him as much. "I would die before I let anything happen to our son."

They moved to a house in the country when Stannis told them it would be best. They agreed when he advised them to perform a Fidelius Charm. Theon had agreed to be their secret keeper, for he was as close to Jon as he once was to Robb. Theon was brave, and would go down fighting if the situation arose. At the last second they switched to Ramsay, who had already promised to protect their son. Ramsay was someone Aerys would suspect the least.

The first months of their hiding Sansa and Jon managed to divide their focuses between Ned and getting the decrepit house into the same condition as their first house. Jon grew restless when they would hear about the murders on their wireless, when he knew he could do nothing to help. It was rare for Jon to stay frustrated for long, she knew being cooped up was hard. She wouldn't go so far as to call herself happy with the arrangement, but it was better being stuck in her own home, with the man she loved and their child in comparison to the Red Keep.

She kept her temper for him, as he had during her pregnancy. She could feel frustrated but as long as they were safe, she would do what it took. This war couldn't last forever. Aerys was going after muggleborns, and blood traitors. Soon someone would have to make him stop, even though Jon longed to do it himself, to see justice for her family, she would prefer to have him here, where he was safe. Maybe that was selfish.

On Ned's first birthday Theon sent him a stuffed squid, and a toy broomstick which created a wonderful distraction. Every time Ned laughed it seemed to reinforce their reasoning for staying in. Her son looked exactly like she dreamed, unruly dark curls, and long faced; he had her Tully blue eyes though. His laugh started to sound like Jon's, and his eyes would crinkle at the corners. Some nights they stayed in the nursery, holding him, and feeling his soft little breaths. The other shoe was still on the tip of her finger, it hadn't fallen, it wouldn't.

They stopped keeping track of the days, but the windows would frost, and the leaves had fallen from the trees the night it all went wrong. Jon was pulling faces at Ned, who delighted in seeing his father; Sansa was in the kitchen taking a pie out of the oven _it looks like it's time for a pumpkin one, doesn't it?_ As she waited for it to cool she leaned against the door to watch her husband and her son. Jon was shooting puffs of colored smoke from his wand, and Ned was startled by the magic. Jon's fond smile at their son warmed her heart.

She walked over and Jon turned his grin on her. She ducked to his level on the couch and kissed him. "I'm going to put Ned to bed, meet you upstairs?" He grinned wolfishly at her and nodded.

"Night little man, I love you." Jon always made it a point to tell Ned each night that he loved him, they were going to raise Ned in the best way possible, starting with loving him.

She made it to the nursery before she heard Jon. "Sansa, it's him! Take Ned and go! I'll hold him off!" In all their time together she hadn't left him to fight alone. She felt the cold in her chest before she heard Jon fall. Ned had to live, but how could he with her wand across the hall?

She tried to drag his dresser to barricade the door but it was blasted aside. Aerys looked a great deal more frightening as she stood between him and her child, wandless and afraid. "Stand aside girl," he ordered her.

"Please not Ned, please."

"Stand aside," he ordered once more.

"Take me instead, please not my son, not Ned." They said when you die by _Avada Kadavra_ it's painless. But Sansa ached knowing her son would have no one, like his father.


End file.
